Deputy Director,
Department of Minerals and Energy
Private Bag X59, Pretoria
E-mail: ocmsub@mepta.pwv.gov.za
I have read the notes from the think tank meeting with interest.
I have a deep and abiding love for issues related to land and all facets relating to it.
I worked with the KwaZulu Natal Provincial Administration (KZNPA) Land Affairs section for a number of years and also with the National Department of Housing. Two reasons made me leave the Land Affairs Department:
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one was the lack of concrete direction/implementation in terms of pursuing land reform initiatives
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secondly the fact that the drivers of the projects were more concerned with debating issues rather than in actually assisting individuals(especially previously disadvantaged groups) to secure land ownership.
Having worked with land issues and having developed a guideline document for KZNPA for the acquisition sale and transfer of properties on behalf of the State I would like to make the following comments:
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South Africa in terms of land reform is simmering pot that will very shortly explode in our faces (point 16 Page 4)
Many of the previously disadvantaged groups, whilst not supporting Mugabe’s land grab and policies, understand the reason for land becoming a major issue in Zimbabwe.
If one reviews the redistribution of land in SA from 1994 to 2003 it is clearly evident that the State has failed to deliver land in terms of its mandate. The bulk of land redistribution has still not taken place leaving communities confused at the slowness of Government to fulfill one of the basic elements of the Constitution. A variety of reasons are cited for this from financial to lack of capacity. The question that needs to be asked is how much longer will the electorate tolerate these delays?
With regard to the "willing buyer willing seller principle" I wish to state that most of the lands were acquired through forced expropriations and the group areas act. These lands were then sold to whites at nominal prices to enable them to be able to purchase these properties. In addition they were give special loans from the State (Land Bank, Department of Agriculture etc) to pay for their properties. They received loans to farm the land as well as grants when disasters occurred. These individuals, with the installation of the new government, conveniently "sold" the land to other individuals within their race groups so as to ensure that they would not lose the land.
The "new owners" are now demanding full compensation for the land on the basis that they paid market value for the property. Whilst some did pay market value I would question these payments as a great deal of the purchase prices were "inflated". Therefore before determining a value for the property a number of factors need to be taken into consideration.
To ensure the smooth transfer of properties I advocated the negotiated expropriation of properties. What I mean by this is that I used the variety of information at my disposal (Deeds of Transfers, Mortgages on the properties, loans granted by the State, grants provided as well a valuation report) to determine what is the realistic price for the property. Research as well as dealings with property valuers convinced me to always look at their valuations very critically as in many cases they collude with the sellers or are more concerned about inflating prices to get a higher fee.
Once the owner and I (representing the State) had established an agreeable price for the property I would then inform him that the sale would take place in the form of a negotiated expropriation so as to fast track the acquisition of the land. The land was therefore purchase inclusive of all other costs that are normally included with an expropriation. In this way I was able to facilitate the purchase of a number of properties on behalf of the State within a short space of time and with limited costs for the State.
A contentious issue for me was the requirement by the South African Receiver of Revenue that the State was liable for the payment of VAT for all properties acquired by the State. This VAT had to be paid by over to the seller who in turn would have to pay it to SARS. I tried to obtain a exemption from SARS for the State having to pay VAT but could not get any concrete decision on the matter from SARS.
This very briefly are some of the comments that I (in my personal capacity) would like to make and I hope that it proves to be useful.
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